It's summertime, and the scammin' is easy. What else can explain the recent appearance of a former NFL player in court to face 22 counts of . . . wait for it . . . mortgage fraud!

Arthur James Marshall, a former University of Georgia wide receiver who spent five years playing for the Broncos and the Giants, was arrested last week in Miami after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and mail fraud. After Marshall retired from football in the mid '90s, he moved to the Augusta, Georgia, area and opened four real-estate and construction businesses. The indictment charges that Marshall went to banks and gave them phony documents — pre-approval letters, sales contracts, and dummy financial statements — in order to qualify for loans.

He's also accused of gutting a couple in a Money Pit–style scam, taking $100,000 in a deal to build them a house, then largely blowing off the work and refusing to transfer the title. Beyond that, one of Marshall's companies filed for bankruptcy last August, claiming it owed $10 million to creditors.

Here's the thing: Marshall must have been in really rough shape if he even had to rip off mortgage firms. After all, for most of the last decade, banks were giving out million-dollar mortgage packages to every meth addict and coked-up lot lizard who came through their front doors. Maybe it's not a coincidence that the indictments involve cases from 2007 and 2008, after the financial world realized that it should probably only lend money to people who actually could pay it back.

All in all, Marshall is accused of stealing more than $1 million. This is a creative crime for an ex-athlete — you have to give him that. While we're at it, let's give him 37 points, too.

Bicycle thievesHere's another one you don't get very often. A pair of Washington State football players, Tyree Toomer and LeAndre Daniels, were suspended from the team in connection with the alleged theft of four bicycles.

Sometimes one wishes that college football players would be taught the niceties of the criminal code, so they would know how to avoid getting unnecessary charges tacked on to their records. For instance, in this case, the two players were apparently seen leaving a gated area underneath a dormitory with the bicycles. They were also seen going into a house under construction and coming out with a hacksaw. Because they entered the house to take the saw, they'll probably now get a residential burglary and a second-degree burglary charge in addition to second- and third-degree theft charges. All for taking some bikes.

The two 19 year olds were arrested by campus police (who, incidentally, found the bikes at their apartment) and suspended indefinitely. Give the suckers 20 points apiece — and bus fare.

Pokey problemsAnd then there's Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee who was part of one of the biggest sports-gambling scandals ever, right up there with Pete Rose, the Boston College point-shaving scandal, and, hell, even Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox.

Taser bait The clock keeps ticking down toward the inevitable first Tasered-athlete fatality. The fact that it hasn't happened yet is just a statistical anomaly, because two things continue to occur with regularity: major-college and pro jocks keep getting Tasered in late-night incidents, while an unluckier group of ordinary non-jocks keep dying from police Taserings.

Bengals and Bulldogs There hasn't been a whole lot to cheer about in New England Patriots country of late, and I'm not sure that this will fit the bill, but let's try it on for size.

Kelly's zeroes Like Bob Beamon's long-jump record or Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, it was once thought that no organized sports team would ever approach the string of arrests racked up by the infamous Portland Jail Blazers club of the early 2000s.

Number two blues As we approach NFL draft season, it’s fun to look back at those great draft prospects of yore, the workout warriors and combine heroes who titillated coordinators, coaches, and fans leading up to the big selection day in New York.

The year ahead in sports It seemed for every hail Mary, walk-off homer, and buzzer beater in 2011, the sports pages had a story on work stoppages, performance-enhancing drugs, or mind-boggling college-conference realignments.

Small potatoes There are too many ridiculous college football bowl games to really care about unless your alma mater plays in one.

Shopping, simplified With the holidays, and their attendant sturm und drang , upon us again, I was thinking about sports news in the context of Thanksgiving.

Three-point stance With Green Bay and Pittsburgh squaring off on Super Bowl Sunday, three things about the current state of pro football keep occurring to me that I'd like to share with you, gentle reader.

LET GO, METS | August 18, 2010 As difficult as this summer has been for those of us counted among the Red Sox faithful, let's all agree: it would be a hell of a lot worse to be a New York Mets fan right now.